


(The Truly Not) Fairytale Endings

by Arfang_Red



Series: Irreversible Reactions [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Arranged Marriage, Drama, Multi, Pureblood Culture, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-23
Updated: 2013-09-23
Packaged: 2017-12-27 10:39:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/977789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arfang_Red/pseuds/Arfang_Red
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When she was a little girl, she always dreamt of marrying a prince and they will live a happy ever after. When she grew up, she knew that “happy ever after’s” were a thing of magic and once it happens, nobody should stand in its way. She remained firm that she will marry the prince of her dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(The Truly Not) Fairytale Endings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [M](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=M).



> _To **M** , I hope I was there for you. _
> 
>  
> 
>  **Disclaimer** : I do not own Harry Potter, its characters, canon plot and movies. It belongs to JK Rowling, her publishers Scholastic Books and Bloomsbury Books and the Warner Bros Studios. The rest of the rubbish is mine.
> 
> (started 8/20/2013)
> 
> Word Prompt inspired by this was "Resignation"

 

When she was a little girl, she always dreamt of marrying a prince and they will live a happy ever after. When she grew up, she knew that “happy ever after’s” were a thing of magic and once it happens, nobody should stand in its way. She remained firm that she will marry a prince. As she aged, her childish fantasies receded even more so when her world was plunged into the darkness of The War and her everyday life turned into tip-toeing around the darkness that seemed to surround the world, never immersing in it and never avoiding it completely either.

 

When the war ended, Mama and Papa’s countenance lightened considerably and so their focus went back to her and to her older sister. Her older sister, Daphne, is the perfect daughter and the perfect pureblood lady. She has the beauty, the brains and the cold logical mind and demeanor down to pat. She, on the continuous exasperation of her parents, was not the perfect pureblood woman. She hates the seemingly normal deception, the constant calculation and caution, the coldness, the rigid manners and traditions one should adhere in the name of culture.

 

Her sister was married to Lord Hartwell, a man twice her sister’s age and sided to the Light during the war, which should be irrelevant in choice of spouse but times have changed. Lord Reginald Edgar Hartwell was a rich man, a very rich man and that was a plus to the coffers of the Greengrass family but their marriage was not out of love and her sister was only required to produce a male heir to continue the family lines, the rest is about discretion and subtlety. Now it was her turn to marry. She resigned herself to the prospect as there was no other way.

 

She was to be married to the Malfoy family’s Lord, Draco Lucius Malfoy. Now, the Malfoys were truly allied to the dark, it was a well-known fact but before the war ended, then Heir Malfoy defected to the Light side as a spy and helped turned the tide of the war. No one was inclined to believe of this turn of events until the General of the Order of the Phoenix and the Saviour of the Wizarding World himself testified on his behalf at the full panel of the Wizengamot thus acquitting him. It was a day that made the headlines for weeks after that. Draco Malfoy was awarded Order of Merlin first class that which he accepted despite the judging stares and harsh whispers that followed his wake.

 

When the Malfoy family asked for an alliance with her family through the efforts of Lady Narcissa Malfoy, her sister was just married so she was the next choice. Of course, the dowry would be less since she was the second child but it was still an obscene amount. The war did not affect the Malfoy coffers after all and she suspected that is why her parents pursued the union.

 

Their families went through standard protocol of a pureblood courting, with the exchange of demands in polite worded contracts and negotiations until they reached to the point where she and her intended will meet at a neutral location filled with chastity spells of some sort.

 

 

_[What we think is “the best” comes in different forms and often what we do not expect.]_

 

 

They met around sun set at The Lion’s Hand, a new establishment in Tangent Alley that not only boasts both a 5-star restaurant and a hotel with excellent service extending to discretion from the media and gossipmongers.

 

When she arrived, Lord Malfoy was already imbibing wine and from the looks of it, it was of good quality for his eyes seemed half-lidded, drooping like of a very contented feline.

 

She cleared her throat softly and his eyes sharpened and those slivery glints focused on her like spell light. She was rattled, there was something sad in those eyes and darkness borne from experiences: war. She curtsied, graceful and unflappable just like what was drilled into her when she was young.

 

“Lord Malfoy, I apologize for my tardiness, I hope you weren’t inconvenienced.”

 

The man just continued looking at her in that inscrutable way of his. She held his gaze coolly making sure her body language and facial expression does not betray her momentary disconcertment.

 

Lord Malfoy suddenly smiled – no, smirked – and his eyes glinted, all sharp edges that spoke of approval of his unspoken test. He stood up and pulled the chair for her as she sat and went back to his seat as well.

 

“The fault was entirely mine, Lady Greengrass. I came here quite early than what was stipulated.” He said, snapping his hand and a moment later, a leather-bound book appeared on the table. “You must simply try their wines. The years are simply divine.”

 

She ordered her meal, tapping her wand beside the entry on the menu as he did with his own menu. The leather-bound menus vanished with a little whooshing sound leaving them and their silence.

 

“Lady Greengrass, please forgive me for being so direct but I have to ask what made you go through this marriage?” As he delivered his question, he lazily took a sip of his red wine looking as if he did not just broke the whole delicate and subtle dance of Pureblood courtship.

 

She was not turned-off by this turn of events. Surprised, yes but turned-off? No, quite the contrary. If she were to be married out of tradition, she would like her husband not to be a pureblood that adheres to the rigid often unspoken rules of their culture. It was bad enough that she was to be married without a real choice.

 

Her wine arrived and she took a big gulp, not caring how will that action sit with the Malfoy Lord. She even toyed with the luscious red liquid, silently acknowledging that their wine was of a good year before she answered.

 

“Well…tradition, for one and the money our family will get out of this marriage. Let us face it, your family has a lot of money and influence, Lord Malfoy and as ambitious my Lord Father and Lady Mother, they will naturally want to exploit it.”

 

She delivered it in a tone that matched his bluntness a while ago and based on the momentary slip in his flat expression, that was not the answer he was expecting so, she went for the kill.

 

“As I have answered your question fairly, my Lord, what made you court me? I am quite sure there are far more eligible women out there than the second daughter of a well, nouveau riche family like mine.”

 

He mildly shocked expression melted into incredulity and amusement. He laughed, deep and abrupt, but it was a true laugh of amusement.

 

“Oh. Oh my. I certainly did not expect this. When I asked for your hand in marriage, I was told you were quite delicate and shy.” He said sardonically, the smirk quieting his expression. “What a truly delightful turn of events, I might say.”

 

She did not say anything but continued sipping her wine and nibbled on the delectable chocolate and cherry candies that appeared on their table not so long ago.

 

“Well, you might say I was…pressured by my mother to marry. I have refused for the past five years but it seems she cannot be dissuaded now.” He offered, his face falling back on its flat state along with his eyes.

 

“It seemed we are getting married for the peculiar reasons, don’t you think my Lord?” Astoria said, her lips curving into a mordant smile behind her wine glass. Draco Malfoy raised his own glass and returned the smirk.

 

“Since we are already laying the playing cards on the table, so to speak, I should tell you now that I am gay. It is the reason why I do not like to get married. I apologize that I will subject you to this kind of marriage, Astoria.”

 

His expression turned sombre and gone was the languid pose and replaced by rigidity and tension. He sat like every bit of the pureblood aristocrat that he was. It was as if he was expecting condemnation, disgust or a scandalous, indignant exit from her. She did none.

 

Instead, she smiled. Theo or Lord Theodore Nott, who was in Lord Malfoy’s year level and her very dear friend, told her of the Malfoy Lord’s preferences. She did not believe it then but here was her confirmation.

Homosexuality, while generally accepted these days, is still heavily frowned upon in the pureblood culture. There were purebloods whose preferences lie in that way but when they were able to do their duty which was to continue the family line and uphold the duty their family titles afforded them and they did their affairs discreetly, most will turn a blind eye on it.

 

She saw the real situation they were in. She wants to marry because of love and she thought that Draco Malfoy would be able to love her but with his orientation, he wouldn’t be able to love her like how she wanted to. She was practically ordered to seduce and marry Lord Draco Malfoy and he was practically tied up and dragged screaming to marry her by his mother.

 

She wanted to rage, to tear her hair or even slap the man who will subject her to a marriage of convenience. They would need to act in love and involved when they married, they need to copulate for the sole purpose of bearing an heir even if she doesn’t love him and he does not prefer her. It was tragic,like those in the works of that half-blood playwright William Shakespeare and she wants to laugh and scream because of it.

But seeing that sincere and sad expression of the man across her, directed not only for himself and the sacrifice she will make but most of all, the expression was for her.

 

She entertained the thought that he is acting, he would certainly be good. He is, after all, a Slytherin but she asked herself what would he get out of this all? Me and that is something he does not prefer and what would he lose? His freedom, a sizeable part of his assets, his continued silence after the end of the war, his true self, in other words, he will lose everything.

 

With that, all of the rage, frustration, hysteria and utter sadness building up within her dissipated and the desire to give this man, whose deeply sad eyes and dark past touched and threw her off because of its intensity the first time she laid eyes on them, even a small leeway to experience life he was deprived with. Daphne once said she was too compassionate and this man called all the compassion she had in her. She felt emotions sweeping within her:

 

Pity.

 

Resignation.

 

Surrender.

 

The half a minute that it took for Astoria to compose herself was enough to give despair and anxiety a room on Lord Malfoy’s expression and Astoria decided to act now, before the people around them notice what is happening between them.

She gave him a smile. A soft, comforting smile and unconsciously, one of her hands found its way across the table and on top of his own that gripped the fork tightly and made the bones stand proudly out of sheer force.

 

“We have committed ourselves in this arrangement and the best we can do in this situation is make the best out of it, don’t you think Draco?” She told him gently and sincerely, her hand patting his bloodless knuckles softly.

 

His eyes widened minutely and as if her words only just made sense and penetrated whatever war his thoughts have gone through, his shoulders relaxed, his body uncoiled and the iciness of his gaze melted. His knuckles unfurled and flipped, capturing her hands and gently folding it within.

 

“The freedom you have given me is reciprocated in the same manner the moment we have done our duties. I give you my word for that.” He enunciated clearly, his eyes conveying the sincerity of his promise.

 

She laughed softly, because even talking about feelings, Draco Malfoy was still a Slytherin and compromises.

 

“We will be very, very good friends Draco and we will have fun days ahead of us, I just can feel it.”

 

That cheeky statement broke the serious moment between them and Draco, she will call him Draco now because what happened to them was too intimate and well, soul-bearing that calling each other by first names seemed natural now, mirrored the mischievous smirk on her face.

 

“I hope we will, Astora. I sincerely hope we will.”

 

_[I utter words that ripped me truly and utterly asunder. I offer you my soul, my love and the life that thrums beneath my veins.]_

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> (finished 9/1/2013 1:44)


End file.
